


Blake's Study Group: Selected Sayings of Mr. Kong

by Kiiratam



Series: Blake's Study Group [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Philosophy, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 02:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21331147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Aura's a tricky subject. But Blake's here to help.Takes place between Volumes 1 and 2. (My BMBLB fic index)
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: Blake's Study Group [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097744
Comments: 16
Kudos: 120





	Blake's Study Group: Selected Sayings of Mr. Kong

Blake tried not to roll her eyes. It wasn't **hard**. "Jaune, what, exactly, are you finding difficult?"

  
He didn't look up from his book. "I - it's just not making sense to me. I thought your Aura was just... was? Like a... third nostril, or something."

  
"So the whole concept of strengthening your Aura-"

  
"-Just doesn't make sense. It's a, uh, what's the phrase, " he scanned the book, " 'a semi-corporeal, lucent anima projection. ' " He sat back in the chair, shoulders slumping. "I mean, how do you even _interact_ with something like that? "

  
"Like this!" Nora threw her book at him. Jaune yelped and brought his arms up, and his Aura flared, the book dropping to the ground.

  
Struggling with the urge to sigh, Blake said, "Good point, Nora." At least she had the basics down. "Jaune, I think you may just be getting lost in the terminology. All that phrase means is that Aura can affect the physical world, that it glows, and that it's tied to your soul, or spirit, or whatever you want to call it."

  
" ...Okay, that makes more sense. Why couldn't they just say _that_?"

  
"Because their way is much more concise, and I'm leaving out details. You have to learn the terms if you want to get anything out of the reading."

  
Jaune didn't quite slam his head into the table, but it was a pretty definitive **thunk**. Blake decided to give him a minute, and turned to her other pupil. "Nora, what about you?"

  
"Oh, I get all their fancy-pantsy words, I just don't think their methods are any good." Nora retrieved her book, and waved it around. "I mean, it's a whole lot of 'meditate on this under a waterfall' and 'contemplate that on the tree of woe', and no actually _doing_ anything. "

  
Blake glanced down at her book. "Well, Mr. Kong wasn't actually a fighter, Nora. He was a philosopher."

  
"Well, what did he even need an Aura _for_, then? "

  
"The monks of his order cultivated Aura as a religious rite. It was expression of faith."

  
"So _why_ are we reading him, then? "

  
Jaune looked up from the table. "Oh, I got this one. Because his life wasn't in danger all the time, he could afford to experiment with Aura. And he was the first one who wrote all this down."

  
"Very good." Blake was glad Jaune had paid attention during the lecture at least, even if most of it hadn't sunk in. He wasn't spending _all_ of his time mooning at the back of Weiss' head. "And Nora, some of the authors later in the curriculum had the same problem with Mr. Kong that you did."

  
"Why don't we just read **them**, then? "

  
Blake thought about that one for a moment. Specifically, how to make it comprehensible to Nora. "Everyone's got a different work-out routine, right?"

  
" Riiiight... " Nora smelled a trap, drawing out her response.

  
"What would happen if Weiss tried to do your workout?"

  
"Probably just snap in half." She demonstrated with her pencil. Jaune winced.

  
Blake couldn't argue with that. "And it doesn't make sense that everyone's soul is as personal to them as their body? Because that's all this is really talking about. Workouts for your soul."

  
"...Yeah, okay." The grudging acceptance on Nora's face was about the best Blake could hope for.

  
"Jaune, it may help you to think of Aura like a skill. The more you practice, the better you get."

  
He pulled a face. "Why is my Aura bigger than Pyrrha's, then? She practices all the time. Not just matches, all this meditation stuff too."

  
Blake didn't have a great answer for that. By the numbers, Jaune had the largest Auras in the class. By a slightly ridiculous margin. It just went fast, because he still wasn't a very good fighter, and his Aura control was... crude. She thought for a moment, then said. "Okay, I've got a demonstration for you. Both of you hold out your hand, palm out, like you're telling someone to stop." Nora did it, but it took Jaune a few seconds, as his face screwed up, trying to jump ahead of her. "Now press your palms together." Jaune's palm and fingers were both bigger than Nora's. "So if I tell you both to push as hard as you can, who's going to fall over?"

  
"Jaune." Nora looked about ready to start.

  
And Jaune knew what would happen if she did, already looking for an escape route. "Me."

  
Blake nodded. "But Jaune, you have bigger hands. Why would you lose?"

  
"Umm, because Nora's as strong as ten mes, give or take. Have you _seen_ her workouts?"

  
"But you have bigger hands."

  
"Oh." Jaune slowly nodded. "So when they say 'make your Aura stronger'... they don't mean in size."

  
"Right. Pyrrha has a lot of fine control over her Aura. She's very efficient with it. So even though she doesn't have as much of it, if the two of you just stood still and traded blows, you'd run out first. Even though, by the numbers, you have more." Blake stopped there, before she could go off into that being why Auras were expressed as percentages, or how Pyrrha's fine control meant that the rare hit she did take was rarely reflected by an actual percentage drop. Too much information. "So, Nora - if you can't move your arm, can you still push Jaune?"

  
"...I only need an inch."

  
"But if you could just push with your Aura..."

  
Nora sighed, dropping her hand. "I've _tried_! Ren's even shown me how he does it, and I can't make it work for me. It just keeps me safe; I have to do all the hitting myself!"

  
_Oh_. Blake kept her face neutral. "I'm sure you'll get it with more practice. But it might help if you try some of the Aura exercises that Mr. Kong outlines. Aura is a projection of you, and you, um-" _How can I be tactful about this?_ "-kind of favor a direct approach."

  
"So I need to change who I am?" Blake had not been expecting that level of... resignation? in Nora's voice.

  
_I'm not handling this well._

  
"No, just- It's not that you need to change, it might help if you-" Blake groped for words. _-thought before you charged._ _**Different** words._ "-explored your options before choosing. You don't have to change if you don't want to." She looked down at her book, flipped through, desperately looking for a half-remembered passage. "Mr. Kong said 'They who know all the answers have not been asked all the questions.' Being who you want to be is important! But if you don't know who you could be, how do you know you're who you want to be?"

  
Nora looked skeptical. But at least she didn't look hurt.

  
"You've tried to meditate with Ren, right?"

  
"Yeeeeeeeeah, and it just didn't work. I just need to be **doing** something, I can't just sit around and wait. I get all fidgety." Nora started drumming her nails on the tabletop, to a little _rap rap rap_.

  
Blake folded her hands in her lap, tried to ignore the penetrating noise. "What if you went on a run with Ruby and Pyrrha? Ruby goes on about her runner's high, and it sounds a lot like some of Pyrrha's moving meditation stuff."

  
"I guess I can try it."

  
Turning back to Jaune, Blake asked, "Do you remember, in general, what Mr. Kong said could strengthen Aura?"

  
"Ummm..." Jaune flipped through his book for a few fruitless moments, then started in on his notes. "Education, reading, meditation, just action, contemplation, piety, good governance, creation and study of beautiful art, learning..."

  
"How would you summarize all those?"

  
"Uhhh. Being a good person?"

  
Nora snorted. "Is this just 'good people have strong Auras?' What about rogue Huntresses?"

  
"Remember, he's not actually writing a scientific paper. What is he trying to do?" She looked at Jaune meaningfully.

  
"Convince people to listen to him. So they'll, I dunno, fall in line? Build that Just Society he talks about?"

  
"Right. So what are some objections you can raise to his writings?"

  
The two of them could generate those, at least. Jaune started, "Hard to read."

  
Nora continued, "Boring."

  
"Full of weird language."

  
"Passive." Nora paused. "Or passive-aggressive."

  
"Obsessed with minutia."

  
They were veering off into their problems with the text. "What about what he's saying? Not how he's saying it, but what he's saying?"

  
Jaune rested his chin in his hands, thinking, on the verge of speaking.

  
Nora jumped in, before he could start. "None of his stuff thinking comes from combat experience."

  
"So how does that bias him?"

  
"He's used to having all the time in the world. You never have to do a quick and dirty meditation. And sometimes you need a response now, not after you've had a week to think to over. Questioning _everything_ is a good way to _over_-think, and then just not do anything."

  
Blake nodded, and tried to draw Jaune out. "What else?"

  
"For as much as he talks about thinking, he doesn't want people to draw conclusions that aren't the same as his."

  
"Go on." Blake tried to keep her face level. _She_ knew that Mr. Kong had been the philosopher of choice by the pre-Great War Mantle government, but there had been no reference in class to that connection. She wanted to see how far Jaune could take this thought of his.

  
"He just... seems to assume that if everyone has the same information, they'll make the same choices as him. Or they're evil. So he goes on about poor education, and bad people, but he doesn't seem to leave room for anyone to disagree with his conclusions. You're either like him, can be made like him, or bad. And that seems... dangerous." He shrugged. "I don't know. Does that make sense?"

  
"There's not much room for individuality."

  
"Yeah, exactly!" He scanned his book. "That section on how making beautiful art can strengthen your Aura, it just made me wonder what he thought was beautiful art. What about bad art? Okay art?"

  
Nora snorted. "What about _weird_ art? 'I'm not sure if it's art' art? Angry art?"

  
There was a knock at the door of the study room, and Yang stuck her head in. "Hey, we've got practice in five, Blake. Ruby's got_ laminated handouts_, so I think it's important."

  
Blake closed her book. "Thanks, Yang." _What had Ruby thought up now?_ "Are you two feeling better about the reading?"

  
Jaune sighed. "I guess."

  
"I just want to read someone whose idea of exercise isn't just opening a book." Nora slammed her book shut. "But I think I get it."

  
Standing, Blake headed for the door, book in hand. She'd just have to go straight to practice with Yang. No time now to swing by their room. She asked, "Same time tomorrow?" and got a pair of nods.

  
Yang waved at Nora and Jaune, and set off at a brisk trot. Blake kept up, just awkwardly holding her book.

  
"I can take your book, if you want." Yang smiled at her.

  
Then it would just be Yang half-running while carrying a book, instead of Blake, but- she'd offered. "Sure."

  
Yang took her book, and asked, "Good study session?"

  
Blake nodded. "They're not dumb. It's a hard text."

  
"Mr. Kong's a killer. I prefer 'Aihue. He's better. And more concise."

  
It took her a moment to match the name to a quote. "'Be excellent to one another'?"

  
"Nailed it."


End file.
